Queen of the Castle/Truth or Dare
Queen of the Castle/Truth or Dare is the first episode of the eighth season in the Trolls: The Beat Goes On! series. It premiered on November 22, 2019. Synopsis Queen of the Castle Poppy decides to build Peppy's dream sandcastle, but things take a turn for the worse when the Finders-Keepers critters take over. Truth or Dare Branch and the Snack Pack are invited to Poppy's house for a game of Truth or dare?, but Biggie isn't prepared to take a dare. Plot Queen of the Castle Poppy wakes her father King Peppy, who has fallen asleep while Peppy, Poppy and Branch are going through Peppy's old scrapbooks. They are donating a number of them to the Troll Village library. He hands her several scrapbooks and then Branch finds a blueprint. Poppy states she wondered what happened to those to Branch, as she explains they are blueprints for a fantastic sandcastle her father had designed. Peppy states he deigned the castle to be his legacy and a testament to the never quitting Troll spirit, but he never got around to making the sandcastle as he quit. Peppy couldn't figure out how to make the sandcastle and so just gave up on the idea. He closes his eyes and tries to imagine what it would have been like but soon falls asleep. Poppy tells Branch a well done for finding the prints and they make a hasty exit. At the beach, Poppy is excited over the idea of making her father's dream come true as she has dreamt of this day for years. Branch notes that the issue is mainly to do with the sand itself as it can't support a structure that big. Branch and Poppy have spent months experimenting with the and-water ratio to get the formula just right to make the sand hold so they can build it. Too little water and it doesn't hold and too much and you have a soggy mess, but just the right amount and you get sand-steel, sand-glass or sand-gelatin, not the last one is of any use. Poppy hopes to have it finished by lunchtime. Troll Villagers pitch in to get the castle built. The main trouble the Trolls are having is keeping the sand-tools from falling apart. Come break time Poppy takes a look at what they've built and it amounts to one fraction of a wall. While Smidge mumbles about early high-5s, Poppy is dismayed at what little has been done as its only a matter of time before her father sees what their up to. Branch gets a shocked reaction from his friends when he suggests not making it a surprise and Biggie strokes in wondering who hurt him. Poppy decides that they need to speed up construction with Critters. Her first Critters are Kitty-Critters, who are fast at digging but Branch points out the reason they dig fast is they relieve themselves in sand. The Flyer-critter speeds up gather water, but it destroys what they've already built. Biggie comes to alert Poppy and Branch to some issues with some of the local Critters known as "Finders-Keepers Critters" - the crabs are stealing stuff. Branch is having a grumble at the crabs when he says that when they work together there is no stopping them. This gives Poppy an idea. Poppy tries to offer the crabs a box of stuff if they will help them build the castle but the crabs don't understand what she is saying. She turns to Biggie but Biggie states he knows only "worm". Smidge says she doesn't know how to speak crab, but she knows how to use Castanets to get the crabs to help. She does a snapping dance for the crabs and they snap back and a deal has been made. They continue construction of the castle with the crabs help, even getting King Gristle to lend a hand with the detailing. When complete she shows it to King Peppy, after waking him up, he can't believe its been built. Poppy tells him how they did it and he comments he thought of using the Finders-keepers Critters also back in his day but could never figure out how to stop them from betraying him. Just as he is explaining that with a castle like this there would be no stopping from wanting it, but as he explains this on cue the Crabs take over the castle. 7 Poppy states they are going to get the castle back and they charge the wall. After several attempts to win back the castle they manage to win it back. However, the crabs dig under the castle and are now trying to steal it into the lagoon. This will destroy the castle entirely. As the Trolls try and save the castle, Poppy's resistance causes her to be put in danger as the part of the wall she is pushing against begins to collapse. Peppy says her and the crabs take the castle into the water, all the Trolls can do is watch as it falls apart. Peppy is fine with the loss of the castle as Poppy made his dream come true if only for 15 minutes. He states his greatest legacy is his daughter and thats enough for him. Episode Notes *The episode title "Queen of the Castle" is a reference to the game "King of the Hill". The goal is to occupy the top of a "hill" only by yourself thus becoming "King of the Hill". Other players will try and steal the position of "King" of the Hill" by knocking you down from the hill. *"For Whom the Bell Trolls" is based on the book "For Whom the Bell Tolls". "The Complete works of Leon Trollstoy" is nod to the writer Leo Tolstoy. *A Kitty-Critter appeared in Smidgician, but it was much larger, being several times bigger then a Cuddlepup orGrowl Beast. These ones in this episode are smaller then the Trolls. Character Appearances Trolls *Queen Poppy *Branch *Smidge *Cooper *Biggie *King Peppy *Guy Diamond *Keith *DJ Suki Bergens *King Gristle Jr. Other *Mr. Dinkles Episode Ranking How good was "Queen of the Castle"? 1 stars (awful episode) 2 stars (bad episode) 3 stars (it was okay) 4 stars (good episode) 5 stars (awesome episode) Truth or Dare Branch, Biggie, Guy Diamond and Smidge are off to meet Poppy for her monthly Truth or Dare game, with the excited Smidge and Guy chanting as they go. Branch tries to calm the excited pair down and they claim that he doesn't know how exciting it is because he has never played before. Guy flashbacks to a time he was dared, as a Glitter Troll to wear pants, an act that is viewed as gross and disgusting. Branch laughs at the story and admits it sounds fun, stating "who doesn't love a good dare?". Biggie reacts with a whimper. At Poppy's pod, the pair are chanting again while Biggie is sweating. Poppy pulls out Biggie's name first and he gulps. But instead of asking "Truth or Dare", Poppy asks him "Truth or Cupcake" because she knows Biggie doesn't like dares. Biggie pretends he doesn't know what she is talking about, but Poppy notes he always picks "Truth" and flashbacks to all the chances he had to "dare" and he instead choose "truth". He admits that he does always choose "truth" but doesn't want to ruin the game for his friends. Poppy tries to make it seem like its not a big deal, but Smidge and Guy do not cheer as they believe she isn't being emotionally honest. She rephrases the statement stating they all make sacrifices for the ones they love and they all love Biggie. This pleases the pair but the next problem she finds is that everyone chooses "cupcake" and no one is satisfied, she shuts the game down and says she'll meet them tomorrow for a new game. Poppy starts to list suggestions of alternative names, but Biggie declares he will not ruin the game - tomorrow he will do a dare! Guy and Smidge get excited and Poppy questions if Biggie really wants to do a dare all he needs is help from a troll preparing it. He turns to Branch, who was actually not his first choice by Sky Toronto who was busy, so was Harper, so was Tug Duluth, Mags Gumdrop and King Peppy. Branch sarcastically states that Biggie clearly does not need help with "Truth" . Branch breaks down things into the three most common types of "dare"; eating something gross, pull a crazy stunt and do something embarrassing. For something gross, he gets Biggie to eat Slime Snail, Biggie comments its not bad but dry, which he tries to wet his mouth he revives the Slime Snail. Next Branch dares Biggie to cannonball off of Cannonball cliff. He tells Biggie not to look down and jumps off himself, Biggie looks down and is terrified, thus does not complete the jump. The 3rd attempt is to get Biggie to do something embarrassing - this time Biggie simply turns up to a Potluck lunch without food. After the other Trolls show anger at him, Biggie decides he can't do this and thus runs home to get something for the Pot Luck. Having failed all three of the dares, Branch notes tomorrow is going to be rough. At Poppy's pod, Guy and Smidge are chanting truth or dare, Poppy tries to get Biggie to back out but he still insists on going through with this. Poppy dares him to swipe the statue of Dere-lene J. McGuffin. When Branch asks "who?" she explains she was the most daring Troll and her final wish was they build a memorial to her featuring a statue of her so Trolls could dare each other to steal it. So Biggie has to get the statue and bring it back to Poppy without getting caught, he goes to the statue and replaces with a cupcake. As he goes to walk away, an alarm sounds out alerting to the statue being stolen. Dere-lene J. McGuffin herself appears to get it back, Branch reacts that he thought she was dead and Poppy asks why he thought that and he explains it was her story and Poppy thinks Branch read too far into it. Biggie runs with the statue as Dere-lene J. McGuffin chases him. They run through obstacles until Biggie drops the statue and it falls into a lava lake. Biggie, not wanting to ruin his friends fun still wants after the statue, but Poppy plays her Queen card and orders that the dare is over. He is dismayed as he doesn't want to be the reason his friends can't play the game, she gives him a new dare - they all love him and she dares him to stop and accept that. He is cheerful of what she has to say and notes that now he has tasted it, he admits he enjoys "dare". As the Trolls run off chanting "Truth or Dare", Dere-lene J. McGuffin appears out of the lava lake having rescued her statue. Episode Notes *The statue is a reference to the Golden Idol that Indian Jones takes in Raiders of the Lost Ark. *Dere-lene J. McGuffin's surname "McGuffin" is based on the term "MacGuffin". A MacGuffin is usually a item at the end of the quest that the heroes in the story is searching for. Her statue of herself Biggie is told to steal is in itself a "MacGuffin". Character Appearances Trolls *Queen Poppy *Branch *Smidge *DJ Suki *Cooper *Biggie *Bella Brightly *Gia Grooves *Mags Gumdrop Other *Mr. Dinkles Episode Ranking How good was "Truth or Dare"? 1 stars (awful episode) 2 stars (bad episode) 3 stars (it was okay) 4 stars (good episode) 5 stars (awesome episode) Category:Season 8 Category:Episodes